Method of teaching swimming

ABSTRACT

A method is provided of teaching swimming to a non-swimmer or poor swimmer. The method includes teaching swimmers to use their natural buoyancy to overcome their fear of deep water. Upon losing the fear of deep water, it is easier to teach additional strokes and swimming techniques since the swimmers have confidence in their ability to be safe in deep water environments.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit of the U.S. Provisional Application filed Mar. 15, 2010, having Ser. No. 61/313,943 entitled “Learning to Swim by the Jump-In Method” and which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed towards a process and method of teaching swimming. This invention is directed more particularly to a process and method of teaching swimming that addresses a non-swimmer's fear of deep water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to methods of teaching swimming. A number of prior art techniques utilize a harness that is worn by an individual learning to swim. One such example is U.S. Pat. No. 1,238,380 to Bellan in which a pole and harness combination is used to support a student at the surface of the water while being instructed.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,541 to Rall uses a harness attached to a short handle. The harness is worn by the swimmer as the instructor uses the handle to support the student on the surface of the water.

There are also a number of flotation aids that are used to provide a swimming pupil with enhanced flotation. While a number of the training aids and flotation devices have been useful for addressing certain instruction techniques, the prior art techniques all utilize maintaining a swimmer on the surface of the water for the purposes of teaching swimming strokes and water survival skills.

Accordingly, there remains room for variation and improvement in the art with respect to techniques for instructing swimmers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one aspect of at least one of the present embodiments to provide for a method of teaching swimming that teaches a swimmer to appreciate and utilize ones' inherent buoyancy in water so as to remove fear from being in deep water.

It is a further and more particular aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention to provide for a process of teaching swimming in which a swimmer wearing a harness connected by a tether to the instructor jumps into deep water and uses the buoyancy instructions provided by the instructor to return to the surface.

It is yet a further and more particular aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention to utilize a demonstration of buoyancy for non-swimmers to help them overcome the fear of deep water.

It is a further and more particular aspect of at least one embodiment of this invention to provide for a method and process of teaching swimming involving the steps of first demonstrating buoyancy using visual aids; secondly, having a student retrieve an object from a bottom of a pool in shallow water and progressing to deeper water where a student's natural buoyancy makes it more difficult to retrieve the item; providing a body harness attached to the student and a tether attached to the instructor, the harnessed swimmer jumping into deep water and allowing the natural buoyancy to return the swimmer to the surface.

It is a further and more particular aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and process of teaching a new swimmer confidence in deep water by establishing confidence in the swimmer's natural buoyancy and thereafter, incorporating strokes and body movements to increase a swimmer's speed of ascent to the surface and thereafter teaching basic strokes to maintain the swimmer's head above water.

It is a further and more particular aspect of at least one embodiment of this invention to provide a method of teaching swimming to a student comprising the steps of: demonstrating to a student the concept of buoyancy using visual aids in a demonstration water tank; having the student retrieve an object from the bottom of a shallow water pool; having the student progress to water of an increasing depth to retrieve an object from the bottom of shallow water, the increased depth thereby increasing the difficulty in retrieving the item as a result of a student's natural buoyancy; demonstrating an individual's buoyancy by having an instructor jump into deep water and having the students observe that buoyancy alone will return the instructor to the surface; equipping a student with a harness which is attached by a tether, an end of the tether can be controlled by an instructor; demonstrating to a student wearing the harness that the instructor can rapidly retrieve the student to a safe position along an edge of the pool; instructing the student to jump feet first into deep water wearing the harness and allowing a student's natural buoyancy to return the student to the surface; increasing at least one of either a depth or a distance from an edge at which the student jumps into deep water; providing instruction to the student on strokes to allow the student to tread water and to navigate within the pool with the head above water; and, thereafter; providing additional stroke instructions to the swimmer.

In accordance with this invention, it has been found that by teaching the swimmer to initially use their buoyancy to maintain themselves on the surface of water, combined with basic strokes to keep a swimmer's head above water, the individual loses fear of deep water and thereafter is able to learn additional swimming strokes with confidence knowing that the swimmer can float and control movement even in deep water.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are set forth below. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. Other objects, features, and aspects of the present invention are disclosed in the following detailed description. It is to be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present discussion is a description of exemplary embodiments only and is not intended as limiting the broader aspects of the present invention, which broader aspects are embodied in the exemplary constructions.

A non-swimmer's greatest fear is that in deep water, defined herein as water sufficiently deep that an individual is unable to comfortably stand and maintain their head above the surface, he or she will drown.

In accordance with this invention, it has been found that by teaching a person to use and trust the inherent buoyancy of their body in water, coupled with simple resistant strokes to maintain and individual above the surface of the water, that person will lose their fear of deep water and more easily be taught additional swimming strokes.

While a number of prior methods of swim stroke techniques and swimming instructions involve maintaining a student on the surface of the water, such instruction did not involve teaching as a preliminary step deep water immersion and recovery through buoyancy so as to provide confidence to a poor or non-swimmer that they can prevent themselves from drowning in deep water. As set forth in more detail below, a tethered harness is used to provide security to a non-swimmer that upon a simple hand signal of raising one's arms, the individual will be immediately pulled to the surface of the water by the instructor. Secured with that knowledge and demonstrated ability to rapidly bring a swimmer to the surface, it is found that swimming students will learn to jump in to deep water and experience the buoyancy alone will return the swimmer to the surface. As a student learns to appreciate their innate buoyancy, the student is provided additional instruction on simple strokes and techniques to more rapidly rise from deep water to the surface and to maintain the individual's head above the surface of the water using minimal strokes.

One useful form of instruction for new swimmers is set forth in the example which follows:

Step 1

Initially, students have the concept of buoyancy explained to them through visual demonstrations. One such demonstration involves a small water filled aquarium where the instructor takes an object such as a rock or pebble and drops it into the aquarium. The instructor then explains that, unlike the rock, humans have a natural buoyancy that will push the body onto the surface of the water. Buoyancy works in part because of individual body fat is lighter in the water. Further, air within an individual's lungs provide additional buoyancy and will provide a natural ability for an individual to float from the surface in the water.

As an additional visual aid, the instructor takes a small wooden block such as a child's toy that has been weighted with a piece of lead or metal inserted into the center of the block. The instructor then drops the weighted block into the aquarium where the block will sink to or close to the bottom and then rise to the surface based upon the natural buoyancy of the wood. The analogy is made that just as wood is lighter than the water and will float, so is a person's body. Even when submerged in deep water, the person's body will have a natural tendency to quickly return to the surface.

Step 2

Swimmers are then given a set of goggles and instructions on holding an individual's nose to prevent water from entering the nasal passages. The swimmers are then asked to pick up a small toy that is thrown in the shallowest water available. The exercise is gradually extended to deeper and deeper water. The students discover for themselves that as the water becomes deeper, it is more difficult for their body to reach the bottom to retrieve the toy. This demonstration of buoyancy is emphasized to the swimmers to provide them examples using their own bodies of buoyancy within the water.

Step 3

Students are then equipped with a harness that can be worn about their chest. Any number of harnesses can be utilized or developed such that the harness is securely fastened to the swimmer's body such that by lifting of the harness itself, the swimmer's body can not slip out of the harness. Preferably, the harness is non-buoyant and more preferably is neutrally buoyant so as to either increase or decrease the natural buoyancy of the swimmer when the swimmer is wearing the harness. One such harness is seen in reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,629 and which is incorporated herein by reference.

A tether is attached to one end of the harness which is controlled by the instructor at a free end of the harness. The students are taught that a signal of raising an arm will be an indication for the swim instructor to immediately pull the pupil to the surface and adjacent an edge of the pool. The swimming students are then asked to jump into a waist high water to demonstrate that the instructor can easily and immediately pull them to the side of the pool. The instructor monitors the confidence that the swimmers have in the security of the harness and the ability of the instructor to rapidly retrieve a swimmer to the pool's edge. As the swimmers gain confidence, the swimmers are moved to gradually deeper water and each time immediately pulled back to the pool edge such that the students have full confidence in the harness and the instructor's ability to immediately retrieve them to an edge of the pool.

Step 4

Once swimmers have demonstrated the confidence in the harness and the instructor's ability to retrieve them to a pool edge, the students are given a demonstration by the instructor demonstrating buoyancy. The instructor fills his lungs with air, holds his nose and jumps into deep water with no movement or swimming action. In a matter of seconds, the innate buoyancy pushes the instructor to the surface of the water and the instructor repeats this exercise several times asking the students to look carefully at any movement the instructor does. The instructor emphasizes that no movements at all are made and the water and buoyancy combine to push the instructor's body back to the surface of the water.

Step 5

The students are now given the opportunity, wearing the harness controlled by the instructor, to step into the deep water along the edge of the pool and experience the innate buoyancy which will return their body to the surface. By simply raising his hand, the students are assured that they will be immediately retrieved to the surface. By repeated jumps into increasing depths of water, the students realize that at all depths, their body's innate buoyancy will return them to the surface.

Step 6

Once the student has established a comfort level that buoyancy will return them to the surface, the students are taught basic strokes such as a dog-paddle stroke and kicking movements of the feet to increase the rate of ascent to the surface. Students are instructed that a “pull-down” stroke results in coming straight up into the surface. Once at the surface, the students are instructed how to tread water using the motions of the feet and hand. Simple strokes such as a dog-paddle or a cob-web stroke are also demonstrated and taught for use in controlled movement to the side of the pool.

As the students gain confidence in their ability to jump into deep water and return to the surface, the students are encouraged to jump further and further from the edge of the pool. The repetitive exercises quickly demonstrate to the students that they can safely return to the surface from deep water and have the ability to maintain their head above the surface and use basic swimming strokes to safely move to the edge of the pool.

Step 7

Once swimmers have demonstrated confidence in an ability to jump into deep water and safely return to the edge of the pool wearing the harness, the harness is removed and under the supervision of the instructor the student jumps into deep water about 2 feet from the edge of the pool. The students repeat the sequences of jumps and returns going to greater and greater distances from the edge of the pool. Finally the swimmers have confidence of jumping in and swimming to the far edge of the pool.

Once the above steps are taught to a novice swimmer, the swimmer has the confidence that he or she will not fear deep water and have confidence that they can safely return to the surface and reach an edge of the pool. From this juncture, it is far easier to give additional instructions of specific swimming strokes and techniques once the student has no fear of deep water.

The present invention has been found useful in that, unlike conventional swimming techniques, the non-swimmers learn initially about buoyancy by experiencing in immersion in deep water and gaining confidence that their buoyancy will return the student to the surface where they are able to safely maintain their head above water. This is in marked contrast to conventional swimming techniques where all training and instruction is done at the surface level of the water. Such surface training techniques do not teach the use of buoyancy as a recovery method from the immersion in deep water. As a result, conventional techniques do not address fears non-swimmers or new swimmers have of deep water, nor do they teach inherent safety of the buoyancy flotation method that can avoid panic if a new swimmer falls or suddenly finds themselves in unexpectedly deep water. It has been found in accordance of this invention that by initiating swimming instruction by exposing the students to a deep water environment and demonstrating the ease in which a student can return to the surface and remain afloat is a great confidence booster and a safety/survival skill that can save lives.

Absent the deep water buoyancy instruction set forth herein, most swimmers only learn about buoyancy after they have become accomplished swimmers. Introducing the concept as a key part of a swimming instruction process and method, it has been found that students can be provided with simple survival skills in deep water after a single lesson. Further, having confidence in deep water allows subsequent instructions of swimming strokes and techniques to be learned more rapidly since the students no longer have a fear of the water.

While the description used herein envisions swimming instructions being given in a pool, it is recognized that similar instructions can be provided in natural bodies of water as well. An instructor and a student could operate from an edge of a dock or boat to provide similar instruction. While it is preferred that lessons be given in clear water with good visibility, such conditions are not a requirement. Accordingly, to the extent the previous examples reference an edge of a pool, it is understood that an analogous structure such as the edge of a dock or the edge of a boat will serve as a similar support area with respect to the instructor and a swimming student.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described using specific terms, devices, and methods, such description is for illustrative purposes only. The words used are words of description rather than of limitation. It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit or the scope of the present invention as set forth herein. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged, both in whole, or in part. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the invention should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained therein. 

1. A method of teaching swimming comprising the steps of: demonstrating to a student the concept of buoyancy using visual aids; having the student retrieve objects from the bottom of a shallow water pool while progressing to deeper water where a student's natural buoyancy increases a difficulty of retrieving the item; providing a body harness worn by a student with a tether that allows an instructor to rapidly pull a student to the surface of the water along a pool edge; instructing the student to jump into deep water and allow the swimmer's natural buoyancy to return the swimmer to the surface.
 2. The method according to claim 1 comprising the additional step of teaching hand and foot movements to a swimmer to increase the speed in which the swimmer returns to the surface following jumping into deep water.
 3. The method according to claim 1 comprising the additional step of teaching basic strokes to a swimmer once proficiency and returning to the surface from deep water has been demonstrated.
 4. A method of teaching swimming to a student comprising the steps of: demonstrating to a student the concept of buoyancy using visual aids in a demonstration water tank; having the student retrieve an object from the bottom of a shallow water pool; having the student progress to water of an increasing depth to retrieve an object from the bottom of shallow water, the increased depth thereby increasing the difficulty in retrieving the item as a result of a student's natural buoyancy; demonstrating an individual's buoyancy by having an instructor jump into deep water and having the students observe that buoyancy alone will return the instructor to the surface; equipping a student with a harness which is attached by a tether, an end of the tether can be controlled by an instructor; demonstrating to a student wearing the harness that the instructor can rapidly retrieve the student to a safe position along an edge of the pool; instructing the student to jump feet first into deep water wearing the harness and allowing a student's natural buoyancy to return the student to the surface; increasing at least one of either a depth or a distance from an edge at which the student jumps into deep water; providing instruction to the student on strokes to allow the student to tread water and to navigate within the pool with the head above water; and, thereafter; providing additional stroke instructions to the swimmer. 